HOLMBERG: Secession petition signers just blowing bubbles?

The secession movement has been growing – all 50 states now have petitions.

Could Virginia actually secede? It happened before, in April of 1861.

That’s when delegates from all Virginia counties voted to secede, fueling the deadliest war this country has ever known.

It would seem a few thousand signatures on a White House petition site is hardly a threat to our membership in the United States.

So these secession petition signers – are they just blowing bubbles?

Being sore losers? Having a post-election tantrum, as critics suggest?

Virginia petition signer Joe Cacciotti of the Richmond area shook his head when I asked him that question.

“We’re very serious about seceding from the union,” he said. “The reason being that in the Declaration of Independence states that whenever the government becomes destructive towards the people, and inoperative, the people have the right to take over that government and form a new government. So here we are.”

Constitutional scholars can’t quite agree on the legality of secession, and how it would proceed.

And even though secession didn’t work out so hot last time, a Zogby poll found that 22 percent of Americans believe any state has right to peacefully secede and become an independent Republic.

I believe that even if it’s completely legal for Virginia or other states to secede, it would still have to be done by force.

And that didn’t work out so well last time.

But really, a little perspective here. Texas has just over 110,000 signatures, not quite twice as many signatures on a petition for the feds to take marijuana of the illegal substances list. (These two are among the most signed petitions on the White House site where all the secession petitions live.)

That said, we shouldn’t dismiss these signers. They’re not just conservative. They’re some libertarians, they’re some progressives – they’re folks who fear turning too much control of their lives over to the government.

Me? I believe there will be a course correction in this country, not because of secession or ideology, but simply because of supply and demand.

With more than 70 million baby boomers retiring – some 10,000 every day for the next 19 years – ­­we simply can’t afford to give everyone their “fair share.”

I don’t think a central government will fix this. We, the people, will.